Rowan
“Just focus on the drill, Rowan.”
My name came out of his mouth clipped and pissed off, and it hit harder than I wanted to admit.
Not here.
Not with Coach Luis watching.
Not with Mason off to the side, pretending he wasn’t listening.
Not with half the gym close enough to hear.
Keaton and I locked up, his hand at the back of my neck while I fought to clear his grip and get a better position. He kept steady pressure on me, trying to move me where he wanted.
He stepped in, and I caught the mix of sweat, soap, and whatever he used in his hair, and my brain went somewhere it had no business going. It remembered what it felt like when Keaton had been mine.
I stayed upright and drove into him because I wasn’t about to let him throw me off-balance, and because if I gave him anyroom at all, my body was going to start reacting to the wrong things.
His chest brushed mine when he shifted. Our legs caught for a second, and I locked everything down harder.
He’d never been a grappler. Back when we were kids, if someone was an asshole, he’d used his fists and knew how to throw a punch. I’d been on the mats since I was seven and knew what inexperience looked like. I knew what panic looked like too.
He wasn’t showing either.
I tried to pull him off line and catch an opening, but he moved with me and came right back in. No hesitation. No wasted motion.
“Stop staring at me.”
I almost laughed, but nothing about this felt funny. “Hard not to when you’re suddenly good at this.”
His mouth flattened. “I’m notsuddenlygood at this.”
Coach Luis stepped closer. “Rowan, keep your head in it.”
“Yes, Coach.”
Keaton stayed quiet and shut down my angle again before I could do anything with it.
That should’ve been easy for me to read.
It wasn’t.
I dropped for a single-leg, expecting at least a second of hesitation, but he sprawled fast and heavy, shut it down, and forced me to work just to get out from under him.
I jumped back to my feet, hands raised in front of me, breathing uneven.
He didn’t give me a second to reset.
He snapped my head down, tried to spin behind me, and I blocked with my elbow and pivoted with him, both of us circling rapidly, hands fighting, neither of us letting the other get a clear position.
Mason’s voice drifted from the edge of the mat. “This is the part where you two become best friends again, right?”
“Stretch,” Coach Luis ordered him without taking his eyes off us.
Mason groaned. “Cramp is gone. Also, I’m emotionally invested in these two.”
Keaton collided with me again, his pressure constant, and pushed me back a step. I planted my feet and moved my arms inside for underhooks. He answered right away and beat me inside before I could settle them.
